Holidays & Birthdays

  • Business,  Holidays & Birthdays,  Katheryn McMahon Newton Album,  Real Photo Post Cards,  Travel

    The Kenyon, the Antlers, and the Second Ward School

    Katheryn McMahon Newton album, cards 90-92 First up, another card from Indiana without a message. This one differs from last week in three key respects (apart from image): recipient, place sent from, and information about sender. It went to Katheryn (aka “Kittie”) at her place of work, came from Franklin, and we actually have something about the sender. Not much, a matter of initials or a nickname left open to interpretation for those of us, unlike Kittie, not in the know. Car or CAR or CaR? It may not be much, but it’s something. The image portrays a school in Franklin, the same place as the postmark. The school reminds…

  • Business,  Collecting,  Holidays & Birthdays,  Katheryn McMahon Newton Album,  Social

    From the Governor’s Private Secretary to Writing Everyday

    Katheryn McMahon Newton Album, cards 30-31 Evidently, Fred decided to call on the Governor of Colorado, Henry Augustus Buchtel, while passing through Denver. I still don’t know enough about him to find him in the Census–and I’m not (yet) going to start other research to find him in Seattle and/or Chicago records and related materials. The population of Colorado at the time was numbered in the high hundred-thousands; that of Denver in the low hundred-thousands. Fred’s evident comfort level in making the call suggests he came from higher up the class ranks–even though he settled for “a very few minutes” with the Governor’s private secretary. To continue the discussion of…

  • Collecting,  Health,  Holidays & Birthdays,  Katheryn McMahon Newton Album,  Logistics,  Social

    Well? Happy Birthday, New Year, and A Swell Postal Album

    Katheryn McMahon Newton Album, post 3, cards 4-6 In my last post, I indicated Fred sent Katheryn two postcards on her birthday in 1908 (along with a letter and box). Correction: he sent at least three. Someone tucked the third into the album a little further along (#6). Under normal circumstances, I’d have processed the whole album before posting anything here and thus I’d have presented all three together, probably as part of a chronological arrangement. You’re getting the “in the weeds” version instead, where I post as I go along. History in the writing! (Or at least in the research.) Let’s jump to the third birthday postcard, aka card…

  • Health,  Holidays & Birthdays,  Katheryn McMahon Newton Album,  Miscellaneous,  Social

    Birthdays, Happy Faculties, and Dental Fillings

    Katheryn McMahon Newton album, post 2, cards 2 & 3 I selected a birth announcement postcard to open this blog. Coincidentally, the first two postcards in this album are for Katheryn’s birthday. Which one? Unknown, as of yet, but we do know the day: 15 January. So I’m posting this blog entry a little less than two weeks before the date. Both cards are from Fred Newton, who dated and posted them on the 15th of 1908 in full expectation that they would arrive that same day. This was quite possible in the early 20th century, when the mail was sometimes delivered several times a day in cities. Perhaps not…

css.php